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Enterococci have been recognized as an important cause of nosocomial infections for
almost 20 years and as a cause of endocarditis for almost a century. While long known
for their capacity of displaying multiple antibiotic resistant traits, the extent
to which this could occur was not fully appreciated until the emergence of enterococci
with acquired resistance to vancomycin; this resistance has been particularly problematic
because it often occurs in the uncommon subset of enterococci that are also highly
resistant to ampicillin—a combination with devastating therapeutic consequences. The
observation that vancomycin resistance can be transferred to and expressed in other
gram-positive organisms, for which vancomycin is often considered the primary therapeutic
alternative, is a chilling reminder of just how close we may be to a wide array of
potentially untreatable “killer” microbes.
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Article info
Publication history
Accepted:
August 27,
1996
Received:
June 10,
1996
Identification
Copyright
© 1997 Excerpta Medica, Inc. All rights reserved. Published by Elsevier Inc.
